This Day in US Military History--Mercuralia Extra

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 15 May 2015 15:39:15 -0400

Murcuralia; the Festival of Mercury, Patron of the Signal Corps: Mercury, was a Roman messenger god whose attributes were mainly borrowed from the Greek god Hermes although there are myths regarding Mercury that are distinctly Roman.

He was also a god of trade, thieves, and travel. The name is closely related to merx, mercari, and merces which respectively mean merchandise, to trade, and wages. For good luck, on the Ides of May (May 15th) which was considered his birthday, the merchants of Rome would use laurel boughs to sprinkle their merchandise, their ships, and their heads with water from a fountain at Porta Capena known as aqua Mercurii. They also offered prayers to Mercury for forgiveness of past and future perjuries, for profit, and the continued ability to cheat customers!

Response by SGT Nia Chiaraluce made May 15 at 2015 3:49 PM

SGT Nia Chiaraluce — Fri, 15 May 2015 15:49:57 -0400

Seeing it correlate to our realm of expertise makes me smile. Thank you for the history lesson, its definitely something I can share with the soldiers coming up in the section.